The impact on bone healing acceleration for patients suffering from mandibular fractures treated with Open reduction and internal fixation with extracorporeal radial shock wave therapy vs conventional open reduction and internal fixation

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of using ESWT as an adjuvant therapy in accelerating healing of mandibular fractures.Materials and methods: A randomized controlled clinical trial of twenty patients with mandibular fracture either were included according to the eligibility criteria with allocation ratio 1:1. They were equally divided into two groups: group A( control group )treated with open reduction and internal fixation with plates and screws only and group B ( intervention group) treated with open reduction and internal fixation with plates and screws with ESWT as an adjunctive Therapy. All groups were assessed radiographically by relative/ pseudo Hounsfield unit and clinically in terms of pain intensity (visual analogue scale/VAS). Both were recorded (immediately postoperative, 1 month postoperatively, and 3 months postoperatively).Results: Extracorporeal radial shockwave therapy showed neither clinical nor statistical significant difference by the end of the study regarding the both outcomes the bone healing and pain resolution. Though the extracorporeal shockwave therapy demonstrated a rather beneficial effect on bone healing and pain resolution both groups had demonstrated no statistical significant results. Conclusions: There was no clinically significant difference by the end of the study regarding both the primary and secondary outcomes which are the bone healing and pain resolution respectively which may be regarding the dose or the method of fixation of the fracture or even the number of sessions. Clinical Relevance: The results revealed that there was no clinical significant difference regarding both outcomes the bone healing and pain resolution.